Public invited to attend documentary, 'Anatomy of Hate'

Public invited to attend documentary, 'Anatomy of Hate'

February 04, 2013

Penn State Beaver invites the public to attend a free screening of the award-winning documentary, “The Anatomy of Hate - A Dialogue to Hope,” 6 p.m. on Wednesday, March 20, in the Student Union Building auditorium. At 7:30 p.m., the film’s director, Mike Ramsdell, will engage the audience in a discussion and question-and-answer session. The film contains graphic language and is for mature audiences.

For six years, Ramsdell worked with unprecedented access to some of the world’s most extreme, violent ideologies and participants, including the White Supremacy movement, Christian fundamentalism as an anti-gay platform, Muslim extremism, the Palestinian Intifada, Israeli settlers and soldiers, and United States military forces in Iraq.

“The film weaves a tapestry that reveals both the emotional and biological mechanisms which make all of us susceptible to acts and ideologies of hate,” Ramsdell said. “It demonstrates how these very same traits make us equally capable of overcoming them.”

The documentary juxtaposes film footage with interviews from experts in the fields of psychology, neurology, and sociology and intersperses stories of redemption told by former participants in hate ideologies.

“The Anatomy of Hate” was named Best Political Documentary at the Philadelphia Independent Film Festival in 2009 and won the Audience Choice Award at the Atlanta DocuFest. The documentary was also an official selection for the Boston International Film Festival, the Cinema City Film Festival, and the Saratoga Fringe Festival.

For information, contact the Beaver campus Office of Student Activities at 724-773-3947 or ras62@psu.edu.